Artisans, farmers, activists and preservationists come together for three days of food, education and fun
The annual Heirloom Expo took place Sept. 5-7, and while some in attendance feel it was smaller than years past, the consensus was that the educational component and outreach was as strong as ever. From artists and jewelry makers to farmers and gardeners, there is no end to the things one can see, do and eat at the festival, which takes place each year at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
The food booths were abundant this year, offering something for every palate. Mediterranean, Thai, Indian and Middle Eastern tastes shared space with more traditional burgers and treats and all demonstrated the local, organic ethic of the Expo.
Joe Rueter and Aaron Fellbaum of Windsor’s Green Grocer prepared their American-influenced fare for an enthusiastic crowd, after having been absent for several years from the Expo. Rueter said they were called by the Expo at the last minute to come and serve their food prepared entirely from local meat, eggs and vegetables.
“We do support local farmers by going each week and buying all local produce, bacon, beef, cheese, eggs, even bread when we can find a good vendor at the farmers’ market,” Rueter said. “That’s been our mission since 2008 — support farmers and buy from them directly, because food that hasn’t been in a walk-in has more nutrients and it’s more delicious. That’s why I think people come back, because we’ve got better taste. It goes from a farm to a box to here.”
Education, especially for youth, is a huge component of the Expo, and each year the bulk of the money raised by the event goes to the School Garden Network and to provide free admission and transportation to local schoolchildren. Educational activities, unusual fruit and veggie tastings, hay mazes and a plethora of arts and crafts projects awaited enthusiastic students.
New this year was the chance for kids to “Adopt A Squash” as a reward for important preservation work. Children were given sheaves of kamut, an ancient wheat species recently propagated in Southern California. For every 50 wheat kernels shucked, each child received a red ribbon that allowed them to take custody of any squash found anywhere within the public areas of the Expo.
“You have to put 50 of the little seeds in here to get your squash,” said Luna Yaris, hard at work with her brother Isaac pulling out the kernels into a bowl and counting carefully aloud.
The idea came from Leslie Goldman, who had his own “celebrity squash” dressed in an outfit like an infant. Goldman’s squash is a Gete Okosomin, a variety grown from seeds found in a urn buried underground for 800 years.
“The kids are working for the squashes,” Goldman said. “They shuck the seeds and then the seeds go to grow a healthier pizza. We have a campaign with this wheat in the crust.”
Booths hawked wares from jams, to salts, to the healing properties of tuning forks, along with meats, vinegars, jewelry and gardening implements. Activist groups such as Moms Across America, which advocates for the elimination of genetically modified organisms had booths as well, and both poultry and dahlias had their own shows within the larger Expo. There was also a giant pumpkin contest won by a 1,400-pound whopper.
Perhaps most important of all, the Expo is an opportunity for like-minded folks interested in rural preservation and food to come together and share information and knowledge.
Brent Podesto and his family’s Architectural Ceramic Design from Cloverdale has been coming for several years, and for him the reason why is easy. “Good people, good sales, good energy and all the different people that want to do green cooking and have a green earth,” he said.
His company creates functional pottery for use in the home or garden, created by hand, from cups and plates, to kombucha crocks and compost jars.
Katie Larson attended on behalf of her family’s Soda Rock Farms for the seventh time (they’ve been every year) offering their usual array of heirloom tomatoes and peppers. “We enjoy seeing all the different varieties of heirlooms, not just tomatoes,” Larson said. “The people are great too, they really appreciate what local farmers do and how hard it is to grow everything. I think it brings a lot of attention to the specialty foods that Sonoma County really provides — more than just grapes.”
Larson also appreciates the diversity of people she meets at the Expo. “I’ve met people from Connecticut and Missouri. Our growing season is a lot longer, so it’s interesting to talk to different farmers and learn about their different growing experiences from ours,” she said.
Among the many unique food offerings in Sonoma County, one that has been gaining favor is rabbit. Sebastopol’s Old World Rabbitry is seeking to corner the market by resurrecting an animal from the past. “We took a lot of the European breeds and bred our own,” said founder Eric Schevchenko. “We’ve been developing this breed over the last four years and we are seeing changes in the animal — better vigor, less susceptible to diseases, and also darker meat. When we look back into old world traditions or ancestral farming, somewhere there is that recessive gene lost in translation somewhere. We’re de-evolving to evolve. That’s how new breeds come about. “
The long-bodied, dark furred rabbits do look like they’ve just stepped out of a painting of a baroque hunting scene, and Schevchenko says they sell both to restaurants and direct to the consumer. In addition, the manure generated by the rabbits is sold as a specialty fertilizer under the moniker of Old World Organics. Schevchenko feeds his rabbits a special diet of alfalfa, yucca, comfrey, nettles, kelp and other plants to both create better meat and better manure.
“To me they needed a diversified diet just like every other creature,” he said.
While the interaction and education was named by most as a favorite aspect of the Expo, all the participants hope the community of attendees can grow beyond its current audience. “I think more people should come and listen to all the speakers,” said Lee James, co-owner of Tierra Vegetables. “One of the problems with a lot of the speakers is they are preaching to the choir, people who already know everything and understand. It’s good that they bring the kids. I don’t know if they give them any talks, maybe they’re too little, but I hope so.”
